Chapter 4
Disclaimer: I do not own Law & Order SVU in any shape or form. I just really like the show!
A/N: Thank you so much to my beta kukrae! Without whom this chapter would not have been written! Thanks to all who have reviewed!
Elliot pulled in and put the car in park. Thoughts upon thoughts kept running thru his mind, many of those being of Olivia. "Come on now Elliot. Think of your wife. She is the one inside the house waiting for you and you need to go in there and be the husband you know you can be." The fact that he was talking to himself made him wonder if maybe he was starting to lose it, but he just blamed it on being tired. He'd barely slept last night. As he got out of the car, he almost ran into a guy walking from the house.
"Hey man. What are you doing here?" Elliot said as he tried to remember his name. It was right on the tip of his tongue. He was a friend of one of Kathy's co-workers, Ginny. Now, if he could only remember his name. Doug! He knew that he had known it.
"I was just dropping off some stuff to Kathy for Ginny. I gotta run though. Nice seeing ya." He seemed a bit nervous to Elliot but he ignored it thinking that the guy was just in a rush.
"Okay. See ya, Doug." Elliot watched him get into his truck and was glad that he had parked on the curb instead of in the driveway. He would have hated to have to get back in the car now that he was out. As he turned and entered the house he saw Kathy standing at the door smiling at him.
"Elliot. What are you doing home?" He looked up at the tone in her voice and wasn't sure if she was happy to see him or if they were getting ready for an argument. He hoped to hell it wasn't the latter. It was so hard to tell with her these days.
"Believe it or not, Cragen gave Olivia and myself the next two days off, so I have a four day weekend." At the shock in her eyes, he continued, "I know it shocked us too!" He leaned down and gave her a peck on the cheek. "I guess as long as I don't get paged, I am all yours for the next four days."
"Really. Great." She didn't seem really happy but Elliot chalked it up to surprise. "Dickie and the girls will be really excited." Kathy hurried past him and started to head up to their bedroom.
Elliot started to follow her. "Why are you coming upstairs honey?" She inquired as she stopped and turned to face him on the stairs.
"I was going to catch a little shut eye if that's okay with you. I didn't get much sleep last night." He started to walk again and stopped when he realized that she hadn't moved. "What? Is there a problem, or something you needed?" Now that he was home the fatigue was too much for him and all he wanted to do was climb into his bed and sleep.
"Uh, uh, well, today is the day that I usually change all the linens and if you would just give me a minute, I'll just change them and then you can slide between two fresh sheets." She gave him a really big smile. "You look ready to drop, honey, why don't you just sit and relax for a minute while I take care of that for you."
"Kathy, you really don't need to. I can change them later, you can just go and change the sheets on the kids' beds." All he wanted to do was sleep.
"I just want to do something for you, baby. It would make me feel good to be able to do this for you." She countered. "Let's start your mini vacation off right!"
Elliot agreed, why fight about something so silly. If he had just let her do what she wanted from the beginning then she would already be done and he could be in bed. He followed her into the bedroom and couldn't help but notice the overwhelming scent of lavender. "Why does it smell like flowers in here?" That's when he noticed the 3-wick candle burning on the nightstand. "Do you mind if I blow this out?"
He didn't receive an answer as Kathy was too busy pulling all the sheets off the bed, and so he just walked over to the candle and blew it out. He sat on the chair next to the bed and kicked off his shoes. "So, what did Doug drop off to you?" Kathy froze, but he missed it as he pulled his shirt over his head.
"Uh," she muttered started putting the new sheets on. "Just the schedule for next week."
"I thought your schedule was fixed, Monday thru Wednesday." He looked up sharply. She had a deer in the headlights look on her face. "Did you change your hours? You know that we should really talk about it before you make any big decisions on your hours. Especially, with my crazy schedule."
Her faced relaxed and she smiled sweetly at him. "No, I didn't change my hours. I just needed it because I am going to be the head nurse this week and I needed to have their hours." She patted the bed for Elliot to climb in. "Ginny had requested a change, that's all."
"Wow! You didn't tell me you were the head nurse this week. Congratulations, honey." He murmured as his head hit the pillow. He looked up at her and thought about the fact that it had been months since they were last together. "Do you want to come and join me?" At his suggestive smile, she shook her head no. "Awww, come on, honey, its been awhile…."
She shook her head again. "El, you're tired and I have all this stuff to do, and I haven't even taken a shower yet."
"All the better, you can shower after. And I could definitely work up the stamina for a little one on one with you." Elliot patted the bed next to him. "Come on, you know you wanna."
"You get some sleep and then maybe we'll play." Kathy offered as she got up and headed out of the room. "Plus I have a doctor's appointment at 10:30, so I have to rush." She brushed a kiss on his cheek and headed into the hallway.
His last thought as he drifted off to sleep was that he hoped Olivia's day was going well.
Meanwhile Across TownOlivia was walking out of the hospital with a smile spread across her face. 'Today is a great day!' She thought to herself. It was absolutely wonderful to be able to tell Baxter that today really was the first day of the rest of his life. As she broke the news to him that he was cleared of all charges and wouldn't need to go back to jail, Olivia knew she would treasure the look that he'd given her forever. It definitely made her feel like she made a difference in the world. And the fact that he asked her to stay and be a part of his reunion with Karen and Danny, was unreal to her. But as he put it, she was the reason that this moment was possible.
Olivia wanted to share her happiness and opened her cell phone to call Elliot but then stopped herself. He had said that he was going to spend some quality time with his wife and she didn't want to interrupt it. She was feeling so good and she really wanted to share this. Who could she call? Monique would be working, so she was out. Then it hit her, Julie! Julie works different schedules every week; maybe she would be able to meet up with her.
She quickly dialed Julie's number and got into her car as it was ringing. "Hello?"
"Hey Julie! Its Olivia."
"Hey girl! Long time no see! How are you doing?" Olivia could hear music being turned down in the background.
"Not a whole lot, except that I am off for the next four days and in the mood for some major Christmas shopping! Are you game?"
A squeal came thru the phone that was so loud she had to hold it away from her ear. "Of course! Just tell me when and where and girl, I am there."
The smile just kept getting bigger, Julie had that effect on her. "Okay, well I think that we should meet up at the best store in New York to start."
Julie thought for a moment. "Macy's?"
"Nope, FAO Schwartz! I hear that since they are going out of business that they are having one heck of a big sale and I have four kids that I need presents for." Olivia chuckled. "Plus, it's a really fun store to play in and I am in the mood to play."
They agreed to meet up and Olivia started her car and headed into the dreaded New York traffic. But she, unlike most of the other drivers on the road, still had that big smile on her face and was looking forward to the rest of her day. She couldn't believe how great her day has been. She smiled, thinking about how the day could have gone so much different. It could have been Andy with her this morning instead of Elliot and that would have been bad. She nipped those thoughts in the bud and tried to focus on her upcoming shopping trip. She still felt like she was forgetting something, but decided that she would remember if it was important.
As she turned the music up to drown out the sounds of the traffic around her, she thought to herself, "Nothing could go wrong today." If she only knew.